Photo Diary: Sam Dew's First AfroPunk Fest Was A Sensory Overload

We tagged along with RCA crooner Sam Dew as he experienced his very first AfroPunk Fest. Let's just say he loved it.

There's something special about your first AfroPunk Festival. When walking into Brooklyn's intimate Commodore Barry Park, it's akin to entering an different world where the culture is distinct and the good vibes, palpable. Your nose is hit by the smell of good food and great herbs floating in the air. For two days, the park's concrete grounds and patchy grass is a personal runway for thousands of the most stylishly dressed individuals in and outside of New York's five boroughs. Beautiful humans of every race, religion, ethnicity and hue came together to celebrate and appreciate the diversity of the black experience.

For Sam Dew, who made his AfroPunk debut this past weekend (Aug. 23), it was all a sensory overload. From the time he left his hotel in the early afternoon to his 8 p.m. set, VIBE was on hand to see the RCA artist take in the inaugural experience with wide eyes. Flip through to become a fly-on-the-wall during a day in the Damn Sue singer's shoes.

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Well-rested and amped, Sam, his bassist Kyle McCammon (left) and his drummer Aaron Steele (right) get ready to leave Brooklyn's NU Hotel to head to Commodore Barry Park.

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Their Uber driver pops the trunk as they load all their luggage and crates of sound equipment into the SUV.

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The ridiculously short cab ride to the load-in station ends up being only three minutes. "If we tried to walk with our gear we would've died already," Sam jokes to his manager, Dominique.

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In a silly moment, Sam makes goofy faces before rolling his window up.

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Sam and his band just came straight from opening up for D'Angelo in Las Vegas, a moment he's still in disbelief about. "It was surreal," he says. "I didn't meet the guy really. I kind of met him in passing, but I met The Vanguard and that was cool. I don't know... I still don't believe it happened. I'll believe it later on."

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So much luggage.

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After a bit of a hectic moment at the security check point, Sam's ready to get from the backstage area and go check out some of his favorite performers, Thundercat, Kelela and Lenny Kravitz.

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Before breaking out to go explore the day, the group huddles for a quick pow-wow and packs the gear away.

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In what will be the first of many times during the day, Dew runs into an old friend in the thick crowd.

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Sam shields himself from the hot sun while waiting for Thundercat's performance to start.

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"It's about his cat, and it's my favorite song on the album," he says of Thundercat's "Tron Song" before snapping a picture of his set. Later on, he'll go backstage for a quick hello.

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Sam and a friend chop it as Thundercat sings a portion of Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly cut, "Complexion."

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Backstage, Jesse Boykins III—who took to the AfroPunk stage earlier in the day—stopped to give Sam props on all that he's doing musically.

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Sam chats with a festival goer about her community service organization back home in Washington, D.C. and a show he did there recently at the 930 club while touring with Ryn Weaver.

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Sam, Aaron and Kyle contemplate grabbing a bite to eat from one of AfroPunk's many food trucks.

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All day, Sam keeps remarking at the high dosage of black beauty concentrated at this one festival. "There are so many beautiful women here at one time," he says, overwhelmed. "This place could cause trouble."

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"I try to wake up as late as I can," Dew says of his routine during performance days. "I try to sleep more because I know I'm going to use up my energy. It usually doesn't work because I'm always amped. I go get a good breakfast. If I'm away from home, I'll usually watch whatever's on TBS because its usually some sitcom I don't have to pay attention to like Friends. Just background noise. And talking to people, emailing people, texting people."

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The crew hangs out in the shade for a moment.

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In the catering area, Dew decides to have a small salad for lunch.

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"I always get nervous before shows," he says of pre-performance jitters. "Every time. But I just use it and make it a part of the energy in the set. If I'm not nervous that probably means I'll do a bad show. Or not as good. I've never done a show where I wasn't nervous, so I imagine the day I don't get nervous will be the day they won't like the show."

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"Events like [AfroPunk] are awesome because you get to come out and chill before you gotta play," Sam says while roaming the grounds. "I get to feel like a spectator for the day, which is good because it's good to get out of your own head for most of the day. I learned that the hard way. I spent a lot of days in isolation trying to chill and it didn't work."

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Sam gets introduced to Lenny Kravitz's manager in passing.

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While watching Kelela's set from the crowd, he runs into several friends from high school and back home in Chicago, posing for a quick flick.

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...And then an obligatory selfie with his friend, Shani.

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A little green never hurt nobody.

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As the band prepped to take the stage, Aaron changed out of his daytime festival 'fit to match Sam and Kyle's all-black-everything.

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Showtime.

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The crowd was treated to all the songs off Dew's latest EP, Damn Sue, including "Desperately," "Air," "Rewind," "Lie" and "Victor."

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During the set, Sam flaunted his D'Angelo-inspired high notes for the eager crowd. "He helped shape my perspective of head voice and falsettos," he said. "That dude's got all the right vibes."

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Kyle rocks out on the bass.

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As an added surprise for the crowd, Sam performed a rousing cover of Bill Withers' "Use Me."

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As far as new music goes, however, Sam remains tight-lipped on who he's working with on his forthcoming project. "I mean, I got some wish lists but I've also been able to work with a few people I didn't know I was able to work with. I don't want to say names, I can't even say it yet. But it's been good."

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By performance's end, the crowd was all smiles and enthusiastic applause, visibly wooed by Dew's work.

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With another successful set under his belt, Sam made his way through the night to close out his first AfroPunk with a stageside viewing of Lenny Kravitz's excellent set.